Former Mossad chief: We must take the Iranian threats very seriously

Yatom says the Iranian drone Israel shot down was an exact replica of a US drone that fell in Iran.

Israel should prepare for a possible conflict with Iran, former Mossad chief Danny Yatom warned a day after the US-led attack in Syria and hours after mystery explosions rocked Iranian bases there.

In an interview on Sunday on 103 FM Radio, Yatom referred to the American-British-French attack on Syria as “a symbolic move, without any strategic significance.”

“We are on a collision course with the Iranians and I hope that this wont escalate into a direct confrontation. They have accused us of attacking Iranian targets and killing of their people,” he said.
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“We must take the Iranian threats on Israel very seriously,” Yatom said. “My acquaintance with the Iranians and past cases tell me that when they issue threats, they follow up on them. Looking at Iran’s violent history will find that they were behind attacks on many Jewish and Israeli facilities. They could also instigate a local incident on the Golan Heights, we have no doubt that Hezbollah acts as an extension of Iran’s will. ”

Yatom also addressed the Iranian attack drone that Israel destroyed after it penetrated Israeli airspace earlier this month.

“It was a sophisticated operation. The UAV was almost an exact replica of the US drone that fell in their territory,” the former head of Israel’s spy organization said. “If it had exploded somewhere in Israel, it may not have been possible to identify it as an Iranian-manufactured drone.”

“We are in a tough neighborhood, where there is no mercy towards the weak, so we have to stay strong and ever grow stronger to maintain our deterrence,” said Yatom. “We were alone in the battle… The attack over the weekend was purely symbolic and a drop in the ocean. The strike should have hit Assad’s palace in order to truly scar him.

Yatom stressed that Moscow does not share Israel’s interests when it comes to Syria.

“Once we thought the relationship between Bibi and Putin would succeed in overcoming the gap, but we were mistaken.”